(upbeat music) - Nitya Nritya Foundation is a Salt Lake City-based nonprofit, dedicated to bringing the best of Indian classical dance and music to Utah from around the world.

Our guest today, Jyothsna Sainath, is here to tell us about the upcoming Nitya Nritya Festival.

Hi, Jyothsna.

Thank you for coming back.

So you've got so much going on this time with the festival.

- Yes, absolutely.

The Nitya Nritya Festival has historically been the main event on our annual calendar, and it's scheduled for the weekend after Labor Day each year in downtown Salt Lake City.

And it's really designed to be an absolute immersion into the Indian classical arts with a combination of workshops, talks by experts, Q&As with artists, and formal concerts with both local and visiting artists.

And we often program with a view to be able to speak across cultures, to be able to speak to anybody from Utah.

And this year, we are partnering with Utah Presents to bring "She's Auspicious" by Mythili Prakash.

It's a dance production.

This is an astute social commentary on the notion of a goddess and its interplay with how women are treated in society.

And Mythili Prakash herself is an avant garde dancer, choreographer, who's respected all over the world.

We're also bringing Manik Khan from California who is the scion of the world-renowned Mohan lineage of Hindustani classical music.

So we really have a lot to offer, including free lobby exhibits.

And we hope that people can engage and immerse in it.

- Wonderful, wonderful.

I know you're bringing a music ethnologist also to speak?

- Yes.

Yes we are.

So Dr. Francesca Lawson, who is an ethno-musicologist from BYU, will be speaking about the Hindustani tradition of transfer of music.

- All right.

Well, you've got so much.

Thank you for putting it all together and thank you for being here.

- Our pleasure.

Thank you.

- And if you would like to know more about that upcoming festival, it's the Nitya Nritya Foundation, September 7th and 8th, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

Just go to NityaNritya.com.

You might wanna write that down, NityaNritya.com.

I'm Mary Dickson, thanks for watching "Contact."

(upbeat music) - Local events, arts, culture.

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Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

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